Congressman Patrick Kennedy took the letter public and then became an 'ex-congressman' because of the public furor over the congressman's stance.
Bishop Tobin to Congressman Patrick Kennedy: ´What does it mean to be a Catholic?´
The first sentence of the article is important:
our rejection of the Church´s teaching on abortion falls into a different category - it´s a deliberate and obstinate act of the will; a conscious decision that you´ve re-affirmed on many occasions.